25 days in and 3kg down

BatmansKcak

Male

43 yrs

172cm

Was 114 kg, currently 110 kg after 25 days.

There is a lot of fat weight from fast food and beers.

I get that weight fluctuates and that what I should be looking for is a downward trend.

I lift weights every two days. I do an upper body workout benching and curling. I am trying to walk 10 000 steps on days I am not lifting. I will be rowing more for cardio.

My diet tries to keep my protein intake above my carb and fat intake. Say 40/30/30. I try to eat healthier foods.

My goal is to drop body fat. So I started at a BMI of 38.5 That is obese. I am currently 37.2. That is still obese.

Apparently I should be <90kg for normal.

That's another 20kg to go.

Approx 167 days of the same.

Hence the app to quantify my intake.

That's everything being optimal, going to plan and somehow it not getting harder to lose fat as it drops down.

In the past, I managed to drop down to 97kg. That was several years ago but it was done via counting calories and dieting. So I know I can do it again.

So I have a question. Doing weights makes me feel better. I think I look better. Slaggy muscles are tighter. Standing more straight. Doing morning vacuums. However, my diet isn't a bulking diet. It is clearly a cutting type of diet. So while I experienced a little bit of muscle gain (more like muscles waking up again), I take it that I will not be gaining muscle on this diet after the first couple of weeks/month?

I have been looking at bodybuilder bulking diets. Some of these guys are recommending 6 big meals a day. Easily it is quadruple the size of what I am currently eating. It is as if they eat so much quality food that instead of getting fat, they build a lot of muscle which seems to burn the fat in a higher metabolic rate sort of way.

So I want to lose fat and my routine works. However, it would all seem like a waste if, in the end, it turns out I should have been eating lots more and lifting to promote muscle growth to burn the fat.

Shredding off the fat is my primary goal but what about the reverse of doing higher calorie intake to build muscle through weight training? Or should that come later after I have lost the fat weight? Then bulk on a muscle-building program?

I have a home bench press in my garden and barbells so it's very easy for me to pump. I have been going to the gym for many years but never to really change my image much. Just to try to get some exercise and keep fit basically. However, I let myself go in the past year and the question above has always been on my mind.

PAV8888

It is a continuum: the more trained you are, the bigger the deficit, the less the protein, sleep, you get and stimulus you apply... the less you can / will build new muscle.

There are some differences in training regiments for trained individuals between training during a cut to preserve strength and training during a bulk to build muscle. Primarily with volume, I believe (though by no means am I even remotely cognizant of the details or intricacies: other people on these boards are much more familiar with training routines and would be able to clarify)

If you're not a long time lifter, if you are returning to strength training after a significant absence, or if this is your first time at this rodeo, a well designed progressive training routine that is implemented together with a moderate deficit will achieve both strength gains and weight loss--and in any case will maximize your chances of retaining lean mass during your weight loss.

During a bulk you gain fat in addition to muscle. You can't build 100% muscle. So it would not be optimal if you're already obese.

During a re-composition you "displace" fat mass with lean mass by eating at approximate maintenance while training. Muscle mass gain would generally be slightly slower than during a bulk. Again, starting at an obese standpoint, the net result would be a well trained obese athlete at the end of many years. So clearly not the fastest way to achieving normal fat reserve levels and there is some question as to whether a normal fat but classified as medically obese person would carry more health risk than a normal fat and normal weight person.

Your best path to good health would be a moderate deficit that gets you to at least the mid overweight level, or lower. Exercise and strength training will aid you in feeling, being, and looking better when you get there

It really may help you to start training again using a well designed progressive overload program

While there are some who start out as obese and after achieving normal weight go on to body-building using bulk and cut cycles, I think that you will find that most formerly obese dieters are usually quite satisfied with having achieved normal weight and are a little bit hesitant to rush into a bulk cycle, preferring instead to hang around re-composition and normal weight. However this is anecdotal--I don't have statistics to back up my impression

lynn_glenmont

PAV8888 wrote: »

It is a continuum: the more trained you are, the bigger the deficit, the less the protein, sleep, you get and stimulus you apply... the less you can / will build new muscle.

There are some differences in training regiments for trained individuals between training during a cut to preserve strength and training during a bulk to build muscle. Primarily with volume, I believe (though by no means am I even remotely cognizant of the details or intricacies: other people on these boards are much more familiar with training routines and would be able to clarify)

If you're not a long time lifter, if you are returning to strength training after a significant absence, or if this is your first time at this rodeo, a well designed progressive training routine that is implemented together with a moderate deficit will achieve both strength gains and weight loss--and in any case will maximize your chances of retaining lean mass during your weight loss.

During a bulk you gain fat in addition to muscle. You can't build 100% muscle. So it would not be optimal if you're already obese.

During a re-composition you "displace" fat mass with lean mass by eating at approximate maintenance while training. Muscle mass gain would generally be slightly slower than during a bulk. Again, starting at an obese standpoint, the net result would be a well trained obese athlete at the end of many years. So clearly not the fastest way to achieving normal fat reserve levels and there is some question as to whether a normal fat but classified as medically obese person would carry more health risk than a normal fat and normal weight person.

Your best path to good health would be a moderate deficit that gets you to at least the mid overweight level, or lower. Exercise and strength training will aid you in feeling, being, and looking better when you get there

It really may help you to start training again using a well designed progressive overload program

While there are some who start out as obese and after achieving normal weight go on to body-building using bulk and cut cycles, I think that you will find that most formerly obese dieters are usually quite satisfied with having achieved normal weight and are a little bit hesitant to rush into a bulk cycle, preferring instead to hang around re-composition and normal weight. However this is anecdotal--I don't have statistics to back up my impression

Not in any way disagreeing with anything PAV said, but just adding for OP's benefit on the idea of trying a recomp to achieve normal fat % while obese by BMI standards: I believe this would essentially be a full-time job, both in achieving it and maintaining it. When pro football players retire, they don't maintain the muscles they built on the job unless they continue to train massive amounts. They need to either lose significant amounts of weight or continue to train like it's still their job.

So, just take that into consideration. As difficult as it is, it's a lot easier to achieve a healthy BF% by losing fat and maintaining muscle (you've probably got more than you think, just from moving your current weight around), than by trying to build enough muscle to be at a healthy BF% while the scale says you're obese.